Tire puncturing device to impede movement of a vehicle

ABSTRACT

A plurality of hollow, sharpened, nail-like members are releasably secured in spaced relation along the length and width of an elongated strip to be extended across a roadway to puncture one or more pneumatic tires of a vehicle to provide controlled deflation of the tires and to impede the movement of the vehicle to assist law enforcement officials in the capture of the vehicle and occupants with a minimum of personal risk.

Eite States Grololebe TIRE PUNCTURHNG DEVICE T0 IMPEDE MOVEMENT OF AVEHICLE Inventor: Earl E. Groblebe, 1600 Sable Boulevard,

#142, Aurora, Colo. 80010 Filed: July 17, 1970 Appl. No.: 55,688

U.S. Cl ..256/1 Int. Cl. ..E0lf 13/00 Field ofSearch ..256/l, 11,l2;94/1, 1.5; 52/101 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,45 6,9207/1969 Elvington ..256/1 4/1944 Walker ..256/1 2,353,386 7/1944 Bourcier..256/] 2,912,229 11/1959 Persgard ..256/1 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 322,224 12/ 1929 Great Britain ..256/1 206,470 8/1966Sweden ..256/1 Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Attorney-Anderson,Spengler & Wymore [5 7] ABSTRACT A plurality of hollow, sharpened,nail-like members are releasably secured in spaced relation along thelength and width of an elongated strip to be extended across a roadwayto puncture one or more pneumatic tires of a vehicle to providecontrolled deflation of the tires and to impede the movement of thevehicle to assist law enforcement officials in the capture of thevehicle and occupants with a minimum of personal risk.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEnMAR28 m2 FIG.4

FIG. 3

FIG. 2

INVENTOR EARL E. GROBLEBE Fl G. 6 BY 4: ATTOW TIRE PUNCTURING DEVICE TIMPEDE MOVEMENT OF A VEHICLE The invention comprises an elongated stripof material which has a plurality of hollow, sharpened, nail-likemembers detachably secured thereto by suitable means, which sharpened,hollow, nail-like members serve as puncturing spikes for pneumatic tiresto aid in the capture of vehicles and occupants thereof by lawenforcement officials. The hollow, sharpened, nail-like members arespaced sufficiently close and staggered in a zig-zag pattern along thelength of the strip so that one or more of the hollow puncturing memberswill penetrate one or more pneumatic tires and deflate same within ashort time without a blowout.

This invention relates to improvements in vehicle impeding devices andmore particularly to such a device adapted to puncture one or morepneumatic tires of a vehicle, to deflate same and bring the vehicle to acontrolled halt without the danger of a blowout.

Vehicle impeding devices have been proposed before but in most caseslacked convenience of use, were not reusable or were difficult toinstall and operate under adverse conditions of law enforcement.

The present invention is so constructed as to provide ease of handlingbeing in the form of an elongated strip which can be folded or reeledfor ease of transportation.

The present device is provided with replaceable and reusable hollow,sharpened, nail-like elements, which can be conveniently replaced forease of maintenance and reuse.

The present device can be pulled across a roadway by means of a rope orline for selectively impeding a particular vehicle or it can beinstalled across a roadway to impede all traffic. Where the device iswound onto a reel, which may be spring-loaded, the device may be drawnacross the roadway at selected times and allowed to retract at all othertimes. Such an arrangement can be operated by a single operator or thestrip could be reeled in by a second operator at the reel where the reelis not spring-loaded to rewind the strip.

When a fleeing vehicle approaches the place where the vehicle impedingdevice is to be strung across the roadway, the elongated strip may bepulled thereacross at a time when the operator will have no opportunityto steer the vehicle to avoid the crossing of the vehicle impeding stripwhereupon one or more of the sharpened, hollow, nail-like elements willpierce one or more of the vehicles tires causing a controlled completeleakage of air therefrom forcing the driver of the vehicle to slow downand stop.

An important object of this invention is to provide an improved vehicleimpeding device which will position hollow, sharpened, nail-likeelements to enter the casing of a pneumatic tire as it rolls over thedevice to release the air pressure from the tire in a controlled manner.

A further important object of the invention is to provide an improvedvehicle impeding device having detachable, hollow, sharpened, nail-likeelements which can be replaced after use without having to discard theentire device.

Another object of the invention is to position the hollow, sharpened,nail-like elements to insure their puncturing a pneumatic tire whichrolls thereover.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved vehicleimpeding device to deflate the pneumatic tires of a vehicle which deviceis simple of construction, easily transportable, simple to use,effective and positive of action.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with otherand further objects thereof, reference is had to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and itsscope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a roadway, a vehicle, and showing avehicle impeding device across the roadway;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a single bolt for supporting a hollow,sharpened, nail-like element of the device;

FIG. 3 is a view of the hollow, sharpened, nail-like element supportedby the bolt attached to the device;

FIG. 4 is a view of a tire casing with portions broken away showing ahollow, sharpened, nail-like element piercing the casing after passingover the vehicle impeding device;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the elongated vehicle impeding device;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the device shown in the preferred form wherethe bolts or rivets supporting the hollow, sharpened, nail-like elementsare slanted toward the oncoming traffic; and,

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a portion of the vehicle impeding deviceshowing the hollow, sharpened, nail-like elements being positioned in astaggered zig-zag relation.

Referring now to the drawings the vehicle impeding device generallyidentified by the reference numeral 10 is seen to comprise an elongatedstrip 12 which may be a belt made of fabric, and/0r elastomer, and thelike. The device 10 is placed across a roadway 14 having apneumatically-tired vehicle 16 with tires 17 approaching the vehicleimpeding device. The elongated strip 12 has a plurality of bolts orrivets 18 passing therethrough with the head 20 of the bolt or rivet 18to one side of the strip or belt 12 and a portion of the bolt or rivetbody 22 projecting from the other side of the strip 12. A nut 24 securesthe bolt 18 to the strip and suitable washers 26 may be placed beneaththe head 20 and nut 24 to stabilize the body 22 with the strip 12. Therivets or bolts 18 are positioned in spaced relation along the length ofthe strip 12 and staggered in zig-zag relation. In the preferredembodiment the bodies 22 of the bolts or rivets are slanted to one sidetoward the oncoming traffic as shown in FIG. 6 in order to insure entryinto the tire casing.

The detachable elements 28 are seen to comprise a length of tubingpreferably of metal or other suitable material which can be providedwith a sharpened edge 30 on one end. The elements 28 are positioned overthe bolt or rivet body 22 protruding from the one side of the belt. Theelements are either slightly crimped onto the bolt or rivet body 22 orthe internal diameter 32 of the tubing is selected to provide a slip fitover the bolt or rivet body 22 to secure element 28 from being dislodgedin handling.

Thus as the pneumatic tire 27 of a vehicle passes over the device one ormore of the detachable elements 28 pass through the casing of the tireand detaches from the bolt or rivet body 22 remaining in the casing andprovides a controlled escape of the air under pressure within the tire.The bolt or rivet bodies 22 from which the elements 28 have beendetached are then supplied with new elements to maintain the stripfilled with tire puncturing elements.

It is contemplated that the device will be provided with a line 34attached at either or both ends of the device 10 so that the device canbe pulled across the roadway in front of an oncoming car to be stopped.

While there have been described what at present are considered to be thepreferred embodiments of this invention, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the invention. It is aimed, therefore, inthe appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications whichfall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for puncturing pneumatic tires of a vehicle, which devicecomprises:

a lineal strip;

support means secured to said lineal strip comprising a plurality ofbolt means spaced along the lengths thereof with the body thereofprojecting upwardly therefrom a plurality of sharpened, hollow,nail-like members detachably positioned with the hollow portionsreceiving the body of the bolt means so the sharpened end of eachnail-like member will extend upward therefrom; and,

said lineal strip adapted to be positioned on a roadway with thesharpened, hollow, nail-like members extending upwardly such that thehollow nail-like members will be received by a pneumatic tire passingthereover to provide an escape valve for the air therein and thenail-like members are readily replaced on the support means.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the nail-like members and bolt meansare inclined at an angle toward the oncoming traffic. 5

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sharpened, hollow,nail-like members and bolt means are arranged in staggered relation onsaid lineal strip.

* II! i

1. A device for puncturing pneumatic tires of a vehicle, which devicecomprises: a lineal strip; support means secured to said lineal stripcomprising a plurality of bolt means spaced along the lengths thereofwith the body thereof projecting upwardly therefrom; a plurality ofsharpened, hollow, nail-like members detachably positioned with thehollow portion receiving the body of the bolt means so the sharpened endof each nail-like member will extend upward therefrom; and, said linealstrip adapted to be positioned on a roadway with the sharpened, hollow,nail-like members extending upwardly such that the hollow nail-likemembers will be received by a pneumatic tire passing thereover toprovide an escape valve for the air therein and the nail-like membersare readily replaced on the support means.
 2. The device of claim 1wherein the nail-like members and bolt means are inclined at an angletoward the oncoming traffic.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein theplurality of sharpened, hollow, nail-like members and bolt means arearranged in staggered relation on said lineal strip.